Quote:
Originally Posted by hzheng_449
Please tell me: what "lies" are these teams telling themselves and why exactly do you feel sorry for them.
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I feel sorry for "student-run" teams that delude themselves into thinking their way is the only way an FRC team can be run. Teams are run that way and think any alternative to it is lesser or invalid, regardless of any accomplishments these alternatives may have. I know from personal experience.
It's toxic, wrong, pathetic, and most importantly stupid.
The lies told?
1) from top to bottom, everything is controlled by a raucous band of teenagers revolving through the door of a four year high school. For example: if your school administrator is going to you for field trip information or handing you keys to a classroom, that person probably is in the wrong line of work. If your school administrator is not doing those things, you're not truly a "student-run" team and instead are loosely corralled by a contingent of adults monitoring the program instead of help giving it the guidance FIRST thinks it deserves.
2) that it's
supposed to be that way. IT'S NOT! When I think of an ideal FIRST team, structurally, I don't actually think of 254 or 1114 or whatever team you might think of. I actually think of 190 for its partnership(I also think of 842 when it comes to building a Hall of Fame program). A 50/50 partnership between a sponsoring organization (Mass Academy) and Contributing Sponsor (WPI) that extends from funding down to leadership.
When FRC was the only program FIRST offered almost 25 years ago, the whole program was about an institution like Xerox or Motorola or Delphi Automotive or E-Systems or WPI adopting a school and showing them how cool it was to be an engineer. Obviously that kind of relationship is a rarity in FIRST ever since the program was retooled back before the 2 v 2 era. Still, 190 is a team that has existed that way successfully and uninterrupted every year since 1992. It's the way Dean Kamen saw teams coming to be, and I still think it's one of the best ways for a team to come together (there are many great ways to do it, this one just never gets enough credit).
As someone who was a student on a "student-run" team before I learned how to overcome inertia and turn the same program into a team that I consider to be a 50/50 partnership, I know the lies we told ourselves. I also know we built up a pretty strong inferiority complex.